Elf Chairman Is Wary
Of Too-Fast Recovery

GENEVA -- Elf Aquitaine is recovering so fast, after being laid low a few years ago, Chairman Philippe Jaffre now frets about overdoing it.

For good reason. The French oil giant reported a 41% jump in 1996 net income before special items to 7.5 billion French francs ($1.33 billion) -- results that owe much to high oil prices and that Elf had foreshadowed in December when it forecast 1996 net income between 7.3 billion francs and 7.5...